标题: American vs European Options [打印本页] 作者: Nishant1 时间: 2011-7-13 15:31 标题: American vs European Options
Can someone just explain in others words the reason to exercise an american option before expiration ? And also why there is never a reason to exercise an american call/put early ? Thanks作者: nitoha 时间: 2011-7-13 15:31
i don't think this is right -- you don't get compensated for time value when you exercise an option. (time value helps determine the cost of the option, but you don't get reimbursed for it when you exercise).
you might exercise an American call option early if the underlying stock is about to pay a dividend that would take your option out of the money (when the stock price drops after going ex-dividend).
you would exercise an American put early if the company was almost bankrupt and its shares were at close to zero -- because you have already made the maximum payoff on your position, there's no point in waiting until expiry to get your profit.作者: rkapoor 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
Kia's right....you never exercise an american option (or european option) that isn't in the money.
Also, you may exercise early if you've had a significant move in the underlying position. Let's say the stock you buy a call with a $25 strike is trading at $50 within 2 months of purchase, you say, wow what a move in my favor I didn't think it would go that high, I'm more than happy to sell my shares at $50. So you exercise the stock early, sell at $50 and you're out of the position. A week later it falls back down to $45, by not exercising your option and selling the shares you lost out on $5 in profit.....so the time component in options is a built-in premium, but you also have to consider that it can work against you for positions in the money.作者: evolsteevol 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
Options are just bets on the direction of the underlying investment. With an American option, you are allowed to cash out any time. So if your bet is doing well now and you think it might not do so well in the future, you can cash out now and take your profits.作者: kd26gioi 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
JoeyDVivre Wrote:
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If your
> option is deep in the money you don't exercise
> the option and blow away your time value, you sell
> the option. In the case he gives the stock is
> very volatile (doubling in 2 months) so the time
> value is worth a ton.
Dammit.... It makes so much sense... Thanks Jo
and spreads, for what its worth, I nodded my head at your explanation. I knew you don't exercise early except in cases mentioned by Kiakaha but I used to wonder why coz the scenario you described seemed possible. Now I know why!作者: marsilni 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
Joey, please can you come back on this ? "If your option is deep in the money you don't exercise the option and blow away your time value, you sell the option. "
why you don't exercise an option that's is deeply in the money...and how come you sell it ? sorry, i might be slow on this
JoeyDVivre Wrote:
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> spreads gives the classic wrong answer. If your
> option is deep in the money you don't exercise
> the option and blow away your time value, you sell
> the option. In the case he gives the stock is
> very volatile (doubling in 2 months) so the time
> value is worth a ton. spreads - you need to check
> this out and thoroughly understand it.
> Understanding stuff like this is what
> distinguishes CFA charter holders from joe
> bago'donuts financial advisor.作者: Jolyn 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
The assymetric payoff of options means that you would still gain more from favorable price movements than you would lose from adverse movements even if you're already deep in the money.作者: pacmandefense 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
so is it just to say that it's better to wait a little bit more if you expect a favorable fluctuation in the price of the underlying, even if your option is already deeply in the money ?
Then that works more for call options where the potential gain is unlimited right ?作者: amqata 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
Miss*Yiota Wrote:
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> Joey, please can you come back on this ? "If your
> option is deep in the money you don't exercise
> the option and blow away your time value, you sell
> the option. "
> why you don't exercise an option that's is deeply
> in the money...and how come you sell it ? sorry, i
> might be slow on this
>
>
I can tell you what I understood... Say you are long on a call at 25.. the stock's current price is 50 so intrinsic value of the option is 50-25 = 25. There is also a time value which is quite high since the option is extremely volatile. It could go even more up very quickly so someone will pay you $25 + time value to buy it. If you want to get rid of the option because you expect it to go down, you should sell it, not exercise it... you may get, say $45 where $20 is the time value of the option when you sell the option. If you exercise it, all you will get is $25.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 11:39AM by anish.作者: waldziuchna 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
Ok, I'm pretty sure its wrong to argue that options should be exercised due to time value being more or less valuable depending on the moneyness. The whole point of options pricing theory is that volatility is supposed to be fairly priced.
Of course, there are some practical considerations that might influence your trading behavior in real life. For instance, you might want to exercise a deep in-the-money call option before a dividend ex-date. If delta is close to 1, it's better for you to hold the stock and receive the dividend, compared to owning the call option and losing intrinsic value once the stock goes ex-dividend.
Also, it is sometimes cheaper to exercise options compared to selling them, since spreads can be non-negligible.作者: ramdabom 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
Cinderella Wrote:
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> The assymetric payoff of options means that you
> would still gain more from favorable price
> movements than you would lose from adverse
> movements even if you're already deep in the
> money.
I was about to make reference to this after neglecting it in my post (and after reading Joey's point), however from what I understand is that the assymetric payoff was always in reference to the sum of values for all options (although it wouldn't matter in the example I provided)...I just used that because I don't remember anywhere in the level 1 material where it stated selling over exercising; I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here.作者: siavosh 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
ohai Wrote:
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>
> Also, it is sometimes cheaper to exercise options
> compared to selling them, since spreads can be
> non-negligible.
Imagine a trader who says "well, my real cost of selling the option is half the spread". That would be something.作者: rkapoor 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
I don't get it. I'm pretty sure it's normal for options desks to mark their positions at mid. So, if they sold at a bid price, they would have to recognize a lost.作者: sgupta0827 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
Are we still talking level 1 stuff?作者: ajpheif16 时间: 2011-7-13 15:32
ohai Wrote:
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> I don't get it. I'm pretty sure it's normal for
> options desks to mark their positions at mid. So,
> if they sold at a bid price, they would have to
> recognize a lost.
They just recognize a sale not a paper loss.作者: shootingstar 时间: 2011-7-13 15:33
So based on what has been said here, I have a concern with one question i did. The question said it doesn't worth it to exercise an american call option before expiration, and the answer said the statement is true. I would have said it's not correct since we can exercise prior to the ex-divid date.
Any thoughts guys ? I found it tricky as answer作者: ramzes 时间: 2011-7-13 15:33
Miss*Yiota Wrote:
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> So based on what has been said here, I have a
> concern with one question i did. The question said
> it doesn't worth it to exercise an american call
> option before expiration, and the answer said the
> statement is true. I would have said it's not
> correct since we can exercise prior to the
> ex-divid date.
> Any thoughts guys ? I found it tricky as answer
I think we need more detail on the question. It would be true on a non-dividend paying stock, a futures contract, a forward contract, etc..作者: bluejazzy 时间: 2011-7-13 15:33
it was a true/false statement, so i replied false because i thought of the case of a dividend pay stock, but the answer is that the statement is correct. And in the answer they said it doesn't worth it except for a divid-stock where it can be interesting. That's why I was confused..../definitely that was a tricky question
